A Compassionate Politician From Hope, Arkansas--Who Knew There Were Two?

It is hard not to get lost if you are Mike Huckabee. After all you are not as famous as the other guy from Hope, Arkansas, whose wife is running for President. You don't have millions of dollars like Mitt Romney. You aren't America's mayor. You aren't even Ron Paul, master of the Internet universe.

Over the last couple of weeks, however, Mike Huckabee is the Republican candidate who has impressed me the most. It was little noticed but on July 30, 2007, Huckabee, who had criticized Michael Moore earlier in the summer, reached out to him. At the time CNN.com reported

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee reached out to filmmaker and liberal activist Michael Moore on Monday, suggesting that the two of them meet to discuss ideas about health care reform because they “could find some common ground and make some positive change.”

“The two of us may have something in common: a passion for reforming the health care system in America,” Huckabee, a Republican presidential candidate, said in a letter to Moore. “While I respect your efforts to call attention the health care crisis in this country in your movie “Sicko,” I feel that your view that all would be improved with free universal and government provided health care is simplistic.”

On Monday a Raw Story article examining last Sunday's Iowa Debate began

When Fox News asked on Monday "Who came out ahead?" at the GOP debate in Des Moines, Republican pollster and consultant Frank Luntz answered that the participant who "surprised voters the most" was second-tier candidate Mike Huckabee.

Luntz monitored the responses of 29 Republican voters on a moment-by-moment basis throughout the debate and found that "Mike Huckabee in his communication, in the language that he used, took voters who for the most part had never even heard of him and turned them into Huckabee supporters." Luntz highlighted in particular how his electronic graphs "climb when Mike Huckabee talks about the changes that are needed to American health care."

Today on Hardball Huckabee made some comments that will, without doubt, generate a lot of talk in the Republican establishment. The following video is from TPM. Watch it. It's stunning.



Huckabee is staking out a position that has been ignored by the boys at the top of the race. I think he might be trying to steal votes from front runner "none of the above."

I am not sure yet, but Huckabee just might be on to something. Rudy, Mitt and the gang better take note.